Comment on 'Earliest Zanclean age for the Colombacci and uppermost Di Tetto formations of the "latest Messinian" northern Apennines: New palaeoenvironmental data from the Maccarone section (Marche Province, Italy)' by Popescu et al. (2007) Geobios, 40 (359-373).

Two possible alternative interpretations of the claimed Zanclean age (Popescu et al.,2007) of two historical lithostratigraphic units of the Northern Apennines, usuallyreferred to as Late Messinian in age and recording the so called Lagomare final eventof the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC), are here discussed. The wrong age attributionof the Colombacci and ‘tetto’ fms is ruled out based on data from the Maccarone andother sections showing that the Colombacci-Argille Azzurre Fm. boundary isbasinwide synchronous and coincident with the Miocene-Pliocene boundary as far asit has been formally defined in the Eraclea Minoa GSSP. Alternatively, theopportunity of emending the Zanclean GSSP to a stratigraphically lower horizonrecording the first evidence of marine influences in the Mediterranean following theMSC peak, seems not suitable, as 1) the marine signature of uppermost Messiniandeposits is weak and still controversial and 2) no significant bio- andmagnetostratigraphic events, well chronologically defined and recognizable at aglobal scale appear to be available to such a purpose.